lifestyle MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2014 MUSIC & MOVIES Iranian film festival kicked off in Kuwait yesterday ranian film festival kicked off yester- on the development of film making in total blindness. Today, Iranian history- Maritime Silk Road. many awards inducing the UNESCO day aiming at promoting Iranian art Iran, pointing out that the last day of the drama feature film ‘“Maritime Silk Road”, On the 3rd and 4th day “The Painting prize at the seventh Asia Pacific Screen Iand culture in the country. Cultural festival will hold discussion on Iranians directed by Mohammad Reza Bozorgnia, Pool” directed by Maziar Miri and “A Awards (APSA). Attache at Iran’s Embassy in Kuwait Dr filmmakers methodologies and was screened. The film was awarded at Cradle for Mother” by Panah Bar Khoda “A Cradle for Mother” screens the life Abbas Khamayar said that the Iranian approaches to the art of filmmaking. the 2014 International Historical and Rezaei are planned to be screened. “The of a seminary girl student who is head- cinema has been able to win many inter- The event opened by playing “The Military Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland. Painting Pool” narrates a story about a ed to Moscow to promote religion but national awards in the past three Willow Tree” by Iranian director Majid The movie follows the adventures of the mentally retarded couple and their her mother’s illness placed her in a decades, noting that the history of cine- Majidi. The film is about a blind man first sailor Soleiman Siraf who crossed problems in the society of Iran. dilemma. The film represented Iran’s cin- ma in Iran goes back to 1904. He added who is presented with an opportunity to the Indian Ocean to China through what The film has been screened at several ema at the 35th Moscow International that the four-day film festival will focus regain his sight after over 40 years of later became to be known as the international events and has bagged Film Festival. — KUNA A charming cast anchors the dark ‘Into the Woods’ his is one Disney film that’s def- somest dolts you’re likely to meet. initely not a light fairy tale. For Tthose unfamiliar with Stephen Saving grace Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1987 The only performer who falters is Broadway musical, that fact might Disney’s own dark prince Johnny come as a surprise. Fans, meanwhile, Depp who slurs his way through the will probably be left wondering sleazy “Hello, Little Girl,” aiming for where the subversive edge has gone. what sounds like his best David Disney has chosen to take the mid- Bowie impression. Its brevity is its dle ground here, cutting, smoothing only saving grace. and refining to create something But, the most glaring issue with more palatable to the masses. “Into the Woods” is the story itself. Devotees might scoff, but director Just when you think it’s reached an Rob Marshall, his team and his appropriate conclusion, you glance REVIEW charismatic cast have created a at your watch and realize that there’s deliriously dark and engrossing still nearly half a film left. Things get spectacle that seems a worthy addi- infinitely weirder and darker and end tion to the movie musical canon - up nullifying most of what was capti- until the last 45 minutes, when it all vating in the first part. Apparently falls apart. the second half is even divisive in the “Into the Woods” brings together theater community. Some produc- the stories of Cinderella (Anna tions choose to leave it out entirely. Kendrick), Jack and the Beanstalk It’s hard to fault the Mouse House (Daniel Huttlestone), Red Riding for trying to play it a bit safe. They’ve Hood (Lilla Crawford), and Rapunzel got a story that involves a mashup of (MacKenzie Mauzy) when a witch some their most beloved fairy tale (Meryl Streep) challenges a Baker characters, and also rape, adultery, (James Corden) and his wife (Emily and a whole lot of death and cyni- Blunt) to retrieve a number of cism. It hasn’t been completely steril- objects-a red cape, blonde hair, a ized, either. The beats are still there, ‘Most Violent’ crime drama white cow, and a golden slipper. If just obscured ever so slightly. they succeed, she’ll regain her beau- So, when Red Riding Hood sings ty and bless them with a child. A that she “knows things now” follow- manic opening thrusts you into ing a dramatic run-in with the preda- explores ambition, ethics and love these disparate lives, but soon the tory wolf, it is exactly what you think. ne of this year’s hottest inde- trayal evokes a young Al Pacino quest of the bumbling Baker and his It’s hard not to get swept up in the pendent films-watched from “The Godfather.” beautiful wife takes hold and powers grand production of it all. The film closely in the Oscars race-is Morales is “a person who feels the first half of the film with a lively, looks timeless with its gothic intrica- O the gritty thriller “A Most Violent like he’s in the equivalent of a war infectious energy. cy and disinterest in being modern Year,” set in crime-ridden 1981 New zone,” Chandor said. The film has Blunt and Corden anchor the film or trendy. In 30 years, the costume York. The film, whose restrained gotten rave reviews from critics, with their humanity and humor, design is not going to date the film. style slowly builds powerful sus- with a 95 percent positive rating while Streep, sporting a ratty, Also the perpetually present wind pense amid acerbic humor, tells the on aggregator cerulean blue mane, belts her way and sweeping overhead shots of the tale of immigrant entrepreneur Abel RottenTomatoes.com. It won acco- out of “Mamma Mia” prison and into village and woods makes it feel like Morales, who aims to build an oil lades at its premier at the AFI festi- our musical goodwill, delivering you are indeed somewhere real. But empire with the help of his wife, val in Los Angeles last month. Co- some of the film’s most emotional the magic drains as the minutes played by Jessica Chastain, heiress star Chastain was nominated for moments. wear on_that’s the danger of teasing of a fallen oil tycoon. “For a long the best dramatic actress Golden Kendrick is as delightful as possi- the audience with a false ending. time I had had this idea about a hus- Globe, and the film is expected to ble as an indecisive Cinderella, too, “Into the Woods,” a Disney release band and wife working together,” get a slew of nominations at the but the biggest surprise comes from is rated PG by the Motion Picture writer director JC Chandor told AFP. upcoming Oscars. It marks Chris Pine who proves his comedic Association of America for “thematic “I wanted the hero of the film to Chandor’s third feature film, after prowess by carrying on our modern elements, fantasy action and peril, be Hispanic, because it is the most “Margin Call,” inspired by the finan- tradition of poking fun at the idea of and some suggestive material.” important recent wave of immigra- cial crisis, and “All is Lost.” “Prince Charming.” He and Rapunzel’s Running time: 124 minutes. Two and tion” in the United States, he added. In his films, Chandor puts his Prince (Billy Magnussen) steal the a half stars out of four. MPAA defini- “This movie is about ambition, and characters in crisis, with either their show with the unforgettable tion of PG: Parental guidance sug- that’s what immigration is about, survival or that of a major company- “Agony”_an ode to unrequited love gested. Some material may not be building something better than or sometimes both-in question. The and one-upmanship from the hand- suitable for children.-AP what you’ve left behind.” “A Most people must make decisions about Violent Year,” which opens in US acts against their moral code, some- theaters on December 31, takes times committed in the name of place in 1981, statistically the most survival, with some trying desper- violent year in New York’s history, ately to hold onto their ethics and with police completely over- not lose their soul. His next film will whelmed. Morales, faced with a take on one of the worst disasters to series of brutal, anonymous attacks hit the United States in recent years. against his business and employ- Starring Mark Wahlberg, ees, tries desperately to protect his “Deepwater Horizon” will explore property and family. The business- the explosion and sinking of the off- man has few scruples and only shore oil platform operated by BP, fears failure-but he does not want which sparked the worst oil spill in to break the law, while his wife and US history. It’s a “poetic tragic take his lawyer (Albert Brooks) push him about where is our relationship with to take more radical measures to in which a disturbed young man think of this idea of escalation, how oil-which is we want it, we need it stop the attacks. killed 26 people, including 20 an act of violence ripples on socie- and it’s getting harder to find,” he young children. Chandor said he ty,” he said. Morales is played by said. “We all need oil, we all use oil,” Ripples of violence lived near the Connecticut town Oscar Isaac, known for his star turn and yet “someone has to find it for Chandor was writing the script and was struck by the thought that in the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn us, so we are far more guilty than just as a tragic shooting took place “it could have happened in my Davis” (2013) and who is featured in these people” who work in the oil at Sandy Hook Elementary School, daughter’s school.” “It made me the upcoming “Star Wars.” His por- industry, Chandor added.